In a win for intersex people in Greece, the country’s parliament banned so-called “sex-normalizing” surgeries on babies born with intersex conditions or with atypical chromosomes that affect their bodies so that they do not fit with the normative definitions of male or female.
Under this new law, surgeries seeking to ensure any child ascribes to traditional notions of male and female on people under the age of 15 years are banned unless a court decision states otherwise.
Nonetheless, operations on intersex people over the age of 15 years will be permitted if the teenagers consent. These include “corrective” surgeries or hormonal therapies to change face or body characteristics.
Earlier, Greece already banned so-called conversion therapy for minors, practices aimed at suppressing a person’s sexual orientation or gender identity.
Elsewhere, Malta, Portugal and Germany already banned such surgeries.
